UMC, a major wafer foundry, announced that Metalenz, a major manufacturer of metasurface technology innovation and commercialization, has entered mass production of its breakthrough facial recognition solution Polar ID through cooperation with UMC.

UMC stated that Polar ID is a compact polarized biometric solution that uses Metalenz’s metasurface technology to easily integrate even the most challenging small-sized devices, bringing financial payment-level security and advanced sensing capabilities to various devices. PolarID combines polarization-sensing meta-optics and advanced algorithms to capture more information in a single image, such as material and contour information, to achieve secure facial recognition, thereby significantly reducing the cost and complexity of existing face unlock solutions.

Metalenz has been able to demonstrate its innovative product that integrates polarization-sensing extraordinary optics directly onto the image sensor on a smartphone demonstration platform powered by a Snapdragon mobile processor. UMC uses a 40nm process to manufacture the meta-optical lens layer and uses wafer-to-wafer bonding technology to complete sensor integration. Leveraging UMC's 12-inch wafer manufacturing capabilities and supply chain quality, Metalenz is ready to enter mass production and promote the widespread introduction of Polar ID into consumer electronics, mobile devices and IoT platform applications.

Metalenz CEO and co-founder Rob Devlin said that combining Metalenz’s metasurface innovation with UMC’s process technology and manufacturing scale, Polar ID is ready to meet the needs of the massive consumer electronics market and bring safe and affordable facial recognition technology to billions of devices. Metalenz is a key driver in the metasurface market. Our first-generation technology has replaced existing lens stack sensing solutions on the market. With unique technical advantages, we have brought innovative sensing methods to the mass market for the first time. As the demand for safe and convenient biometric identification grows rapidly in consumer devices and IoT applications, Polar ID provides secure facial recognition in the smallest and most streamlined size, allowing advanced sensing technology to no longer be limited to high-end products and expand to unprecedented application areas.

Xu Shijie, deputy general manager of UMC Technology R&D, said that UMC’s advanced 12-inch wafer fab and complete semiconductor process technology have made us the first choice for cooperation with the world’s top fabless semiconductor companies. UMC and Metalenz began collaborating in 2021 to promote the commercialization of metasurface technology and became its main mass production partner for next-generation polarization imaging modules. This collaboration will not only help UMC continue to expand its sensor and metasurface integration technology solutions, but also allow UMC to play a pioneering role when this innovative imaging technology enters the market.